US drone strikes amount to war crime: Political analyst

Financial editor for Veterans Today, Mike Harris.

Loading ...

US assassination drone attacks amount to “war crime” against innocent civilians by a government that claims moral leadership of the world, a political analyst tells Press TV.
In an interview with Press TV, Mike Harris, financial editor of Veterans Today, said that the US drone attacks, which have killed thousands of innocent people in various countries should be considered a war crime.
“These drone attacks are a war crime. It is murder. There is no other word for it. It is plain and simple murder. And it should not be allowed,” said Harris.
While Washington claims the drone attacks target al-Qaeda militants, witnesses and local officials maintain that civilians are the main victims of the assaults.
“This is murder. It is plain and simple murder of innocent civilians. And even if they are military adversaries, it is indiscriminate, it is not the way you fight a war. There is too much collateral damage on this. It is not worth it. I mean it is heartbreaking,” said Harris.
Targets are chosen from Obama’s so called “kill list”, a list of individuals who the US suspects are terrorists, named to be assassinated after final approval by the president.
“This is [an] extremely dangerous situation. The NDAA (The National Defense Authorization Act) needs to be repealed. The Patriot Act needs to be repealed. This ‘kill list’ needs to be stopped. Anyone who puts together a kill list to assassinate, and this includes American citizens who are being deprived of due process, this is absolutely illegal against the US Constitution,” said Harris.
He concluded by saying, “We need to bring these people to justice. They need to be tried and if convicted, they need to be punished accordingly but this needs to stop. This is absolutely illegal.”
CAH/SZH